India’s central bank has created a dedicated department for fintech challenges, which includes a pair at their doorstep: framing cryptocurrency regulations and a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The RBI is working on two types of CBDCs, wholesale and retail, and the new department will now be tasked with overseeing their development. Meanwhile, India’s parliament is set to consider regulations of cryptocurrencies. The RBI has unsuccessfully tried to “prohibit” banks from dealing with crypto exchanges in the past. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/01/08/indias-central-bank-creates-fintech-department-as-challenges-posed-by-crypto-cbdc-grow/

Israel’s National Security Council has assumed control of a massive bird flu outbreak in the Galilee, which scientists warn could become a “mass disaster” for humans. Over half a billion migrating birds pass through the area every year, heading for warm African winters or balmy European summers, making this a catastrophic location for a major bird flu outbreak—right at the nexus of global avian travel. https://news.yahoo.com/massive-bird-flu-outbreak-could-153426477.html

Europe's largest economy was not exempt from the effects of the energy price spike, with household energy prices increasing by over 22 percent in one year by November 2021. The inflation rate shot up to 5.2 percent in November - a figure not seen since the early 1990s. René Schumann, managing director of the Düsseldorf Negotiation Advisory Group, cautioned: "The big wave of price increases for consumers is yet to come." He added: "The companies will, where possible, recapitalise their profit margins instead of passing on lower costs to the consumers." https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1545895/german-economy-crisis-inflation-record-energy-prices-latest-eu-news

The potato harvest in the organized sector of the Russian Federation amounted to 6,6 million tons (against 6,8 million tons in 2020). The final results of the clearing have not yet been tallied, but no big global changes in the data are expected. The result turned out to be lower than planned (the department's experts expected that the country would receive at least 7,15 million tons of potatoes), the main reason for the shortage is unfavorable weather conditions. https://agroinsurance.com/en/News/Russia---2021-saw-potato

The Central Bank of Iran has completed infrastructure for minting crypto rial as a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The currency will be launched after approval by the Money and Credit Council, the CBI deputy governor for innovative technologies said. Mohrammian noted that that the CBI prefers CBDCs to cryptocurrencies and is determined to implement the plan. He did not provide details. https://financialtribune.com/articles/business-and-markets/111962/iran-high-monetary-authority-to-decide-on-cbdc

The OP Financial Group reported a cyberattack on its Osuuspankki website on Sunday. OP, which calls itself Finland's largest financial group, had reported an undetermined disruption to its services on Sunday morning. "This morning we discovered that the login page of the op.fi service had been the target of a cyberattack that caused a disruption. As a result, we shifted the entire service to a maintenance state and investigated the matter," t did not provide any more information about the attack. https://yle.fi/news/3-12263457

Due to a power outage on Sunday in Berlin , the Vattenfall combined heat and power plant in Klingenberg in the Rummelsburg district failed. As the "Tagesspiegel" reports, at times 90,000 Berlin households were without hot water and heating. 180,000 people are therefore roughly affected. At first there was talk of 370,000 households. The reason for the power failure was a defect in a substation. https://www.focus.de/panorama/heizkraftwerk-ausgefallen-90-000-haushalte-waren-ohne-heizung-und-warmes-wasser-nun-meldet-berlin-entwarnung_id_36711712.html

Mining companies worldwide are scrambling to increase production and develop new sources of the world's lightest metal. China, the largest battery-producing country, reported last week that the benchmark price of lithium carbonate was about 300,000 yuan (just over $47k per ton), an increase of about six times from January 2021. Soaring prices come as electric-car makers, such as Tesla, report exponential growth in the US, Europe, and China. https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/heres-why-record-high-lithium-prices-will-not-crash-year

US - The ransomware group Ragnar_Locker spread claims of a successful hack of telecom analytics firm Subex and its Broomfield-based cybersecurity subsidiary, Sectrio. Ragnar_Locker’s leak site on the dark web showed an ‘.onion’ link purportedly containing vital information about the company and its employees. https://denver.cbslocal.com/2022/01/10/ransomware-hack-ragnar-locker-subex-sectrio-broomfield-cybersecurity/

In the wake of the widespread surge in energy prices, Paris committed to protecting households by capping an increase in regulated tariffs for 2022 at only 4% in February. However, prices are rising, and the tax cut on energy costs that was supposed to limit the increase is no longer enough. https://www.rt.com/business/545386-france-energy-spike-elections-kazakhstan/

China- The official digital yuan wallet app that was released as a pilot version to be used in select cities has still managed to top app store charts in its first week. Developed by the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the app became available for download on Chinese Android and Apple app stores last Tuesday. https://cointelegraph.com/news/cbdc-wallet-tops-mobile-app-store-charts-in-china

Thailand - Authorities confirmed the detection of African Swine Fever (ASF) in a surface swab sample collected at a slaughterhouse in Nakhon Pathom province, marking the country’s first official confirmation of the disease. The situation comes at a time when Thailand has suspended exports of live pigs until April 5 to boost domestic supplies. Authorities estimated Thailand will have just 13 million pigs this year, fewer than the 19 million it usually produces. https://www.pigprogress.net/Health/Articles/2022/1/ASF-Thailand-First-case-reported-in-slaughterhouse-840611E/

Japanese tech giant Panasonic has confirmed that hackers accessed personal information belonging to job candidates and interns during a November cyberattack. At the time of the data breach, which the company first confirmed on November 26, the company was unable to say whether hackers had accessed any sensitive information. However, in an update published on January 7, Panasonic said some personal information relating to candidates who applied for employment or participated in internships at certain divisions of the company was accessed during the incident. https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/10/panasonic-breach-data-stolen/

India - Ordering food on platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato will likely get more expensive this year as both restaurants and cloud kitchens, which prepare food for delivery at the customer’s doorstep, seek to increase prices. “Brands and restaurants are looking at doing a price rise on account of high food inflation and cost of raw materials (rising) up by up to 12%,”. https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/topstories/online-food-delivery-to-get-costlier-amid-rising-inflation-discount-demands/ar-AASE88R

The Netherlands' inflation climbed further in December to reach its highest level since 1982, driven by higher prices for energy and food. The consumer price index rose 5.7 percent year-on-year following a 5.2 percent increase in November. The inflation rate was the highest since August 1982, when it was 5.9 percent. For the full year 2021, inflation was 2.7 percent versus 1.2 percent in 2020. A higher inflation figure was last seen in 2002, when it was 3.4 percent. Energy inflation shot up to 74.9 percent in December from 57.4 percent in the previous month. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/interestrates/dutch-inflation-highest-since-1982-1031093237

US - Fertilizer prices have risen quickly, and the National Corn Growers Association is warning that new tariffs on imports could make the situation even worse for farmers. The International Trade Commission ruled last summer that imports of urea ammonium nitrate solutions (UAN) – another nitrogen fertilizer – from Russia and Trinidad and Tobago are injuring domestic producers. The decision meant the Commerce Department would continue to conduct a separate investigation into whether Russia and Trinidad and Tobago are unfairly subsidizing exports of the fertilizer. https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/17062-ncga-tariffs-will-drive-fertilizer-prices-above-already-high-levels

Overseas athletes and spectators visiting the Beijing Winter Olympics will be among the first foreign nationals to be able to trial China’s digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC) at event venues, nearby merchants and inside the Olympic Village. Visitors will be able to acquire, store and use the CBDC in an app or on a physical card or hard wallet, while athletes and coaches will be eligible for wristbands that support contactless payments in digital yuan and will be able to convert foreign banknotes into the digital currency at self-service machines. https://www.nfcw.com/whats-new-in-payments/china-to-let-visiting-athletes-and-spectators-use-digital-yuan-at-beijing-winter-olympics/

Italians, the world’s biggest consumers of pasta, face surging prices for the staple food used in dishes from lasagne to spaghetti. Higher costs are forcing producers to increase the wholesale price of dry pasta, Vincenzo Divella, chief executive officer of Italian pasta company Divella. Average prices charged to supermarkets could climb to 1.52 euros ($1.73) a kilogram by the end of January, a 38% jump from September, the CEO said. Italians, who on average consume 23 kilograms of pasta a year, are bracing for more pain after inflation accelerated to the highest in more than a decade in December. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-12/italians-face-more-expensive-spaghetti-after-pasta-costs-soar

Visa is collaborating with the blockchain software company ConsenSys to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot program to test retail applications like cards and wallets. Both companies will first hold talks with an estimated 30 central banks regarding what the monetary authorities expect to achieve with government-backed digital currencies. The pilot is anticipated to launch in the spring of this year. The move comes as regulators worldwide continue to grapple with how best to approach CBDCs in an evolving financial landscape overgrown with cryptocurrencies. https://www.pymnts.com/cbdc/2022/visa-teams-with-consensys-for-central-bank-digital-currency-pilot/

As farmers furiously try to price and source fertilizer ahead of the spring rush, a new report from the Texas A&M Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC) shows supply chain disruptions are wreaking havoc on nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous prices, costing feedgrain farms the most. Under FAPRI’s August 2021 baseline outlook, nitrogen prices were expected to increase about 10% in 2022. Based on current spot market prices, it appears as though fertilizer prices will increase in excess of 80% for the 2022 planting season. https://www.agweb.com/news/crops/corn/50-surge-fertilizer-prices-adds-128000-farm-costs-2022-finds-texas-am-study

Switzerland's central bank has successfully used digital currency to settle transactions involving five commercial banks, the Swiss National Bank said on Thursday, the latest trial of the technology in wholesale markets. The trial, called Project Helvetia, could bring the introduction of central bank digital currencies a step nearer in Switzerland, which has conducted some of the most advanced central bank digital currency (CBDC) experiments in Europe. Under Helvetia, named after the symbol for Switzerland, the SNB integrated CBDCs into payment systems and used them in simulated transactions in the experiment which involved UBS, Credit Suisse Goldman Sachs Citigroup and Hypothekarbank Lenzburg. The scheme showed it was possible to instantaneously execute payments, which ranged in size from 100,000 to 5 million Swiss francs ($109,469 to $5.47 million), eliminating counter-party risk. https://www.usnews.com/news/technology/articles/2022-01-13/switzerland-tests-digital-currency-payments-with-top-investment-banks